It has become commonplace to mount a swivelable sensor in a cellphone (e.g. Motorola A820), in a palmtop, or in a notebook computer (e.g. Sony Vaio C1MHP). In the cellphone the camera is mounted at the top of the phone and can be swivelled through 180° so that it is either trained on the person using the phone or something that the phone user is facing, in which is case the electronics of the machine must flip the sensed image so that it is right side up. In the notebook it is mounted like a webcam at the top edge of the cover that incorporates the display and can also often be angled in different directions.
Although it is known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,053 of Fayfield to mount a sensor in any of a plurality of angularly offset positions on its control module, this type of permanent assembly is not usable in a cellphone, PDA, or portable computer. German published patent application 199 09 398 of Kurz describes a keyboard that can be swivelled to accommodat the user, but once again in a fairly complex system. German utility model 297 22 657 of Jessberger describes a camera module that slides into and out of a cellphone, but that cannot actually be swivelled without dismounting it.
None of these systems has the sturdiness that is desired in a mount for a pivotal sensor. Furthermore none incorporates any other function, for instance switching, that could be used when the sensor is moved to transmit information about its position to the control circuitry connected to it.